I never expected Amman to be so cold already. As I nervously packed my two duffle bags for a semester abroad in Jordan, I thought only of the heat that I had experienced in Amman last summer when I studied Arabic on an SIT (School for International Training) program. I also recalled the faces of my Jordanian Christian home-stay family from that trip and pictured their apartment in the Tla al Ali region of West Amman in which I had lived for almost two months.
But now that I’m in Amman it no longer feels like summer. And while I have been here for almost four days, I am still settling in to my (leopard-themed) apartment in Dahiyat al-Rashid, a West Amman neighborhood near Jordan University. Having taken the semester off from school, my opportunities here seem endless as I face the next four months. I will be mainly taking Modern Standard Arabic (Fusha) and Jordanian Arabic (Amiyah) classes at Qasid Classical and Modern Stand Arabic Institute. Though I am already somewhat familiar with much of the city, every small thing seems like a large adventure, such as learning how to communicate with our haaris (an on-site apartment handyman) to figuring how to work the precarious propane oven and stove in my kitchen or finding out which day of the week the water comes. (Admittedly, without the help of a Jordanian friend from last summer none of the above would have been accomplished quite so fast.)
I have come to Qasid with a desire to improve my Arabic language skills and to Amman with a growing interest in the Middle East region. The students on my program hail from all over the world (such as my Swiss and yet to arrive Australian roommates), and as an undergraduate I am one of the youngest among mainly post-graduates, fellowships, and Masters students.
Despite my experience here last summer, the metropolitan West Amman and fairly conservative rest of Jordan still remains much of a mystery. Last night, as I sat out on the porch that leads from my room, pouring over a map of the city to re-familiarize myself with the different regions (as street names are rarely used), I shivered in the evening chill and wondered what other misconceptions about Amman, and the greater region, my semester abroad will dispel.
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